PURPOSE: This rule establishes commission guidelines for allocation of funds available for the Missouri State Soil and Water Conservation Cost- Share Program.

1. (1) General Availability of Funds. State costshare funds shall be available only to landowners of land located in soil and water conservation districts which have agreed to locally administer the program and have executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the commission setting forth the terms of assistance. To be eligible, a landowner must have a conservation plan as approved by the district.

2. (2) Annual Apportionment of Funds. Onehalf (1/2) of all funds appropriated to the cost-share program for any fiscal year shall be divided by a number equal to the number of soil and water conservation districts which have agreed to assist the commission in administering the program and which have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in accordance with section (1). The remaining one-half (1/2) of the funds appropriated for any fiscal year and less any funds withheld by the commission for the cost-sharing of special projects as cited in subsection (2)(E), shall be apportioned by the commission to the participating districts by considering the relative needs for eligible practices within the districts according to criteria developed by the commission.

   1. (A) Fiscal Year Limitations. Funds allocated to districts but unobligated at the end of each fiscal year shall be returned to the commission.
   2. (B) Release of Funds for Reapportionment. A district, at any time, may provide notice to the commission that it has not obligated all funds made available under section (2), that it does not expect to do so by the end of the fiscal year and that it releases any portion of those funds for reapportionment by the commission.
   3. (C) Termination of the Memorandum of Understanding. In the event that the Memorandum of Understanding required by section

3. (1) is terminated by any district or by the commission, the district shall release all funds unobligated as of the effective date of termination and shall further release, as they become available, obligated funds for which no claim for payment is made in a timely manner.

   1. (D) Use of Released Funds. Funds released by any district in accordance with subsections (2)(A)—(C) shall be returned to the Cost- Share Program to be reallocated by the commission considering the relative need basis or reserved by the commission for special allotment under subsection (2)(E).
   2. (E) Special Allotments. The commission may withhold funds from the general apportionment under section (2) and may reserve funds released by the districts under subsections (2)(A)—(C) for the purpose of costsharing special projects which the commission considers necessary and of high priority for the abatement of soil erosion and the controlling of sediment. The funds thus withheld for the general apportionment or returned to the commission shall be allotted to a district(s) specified by the commission for the cost-sharing of certain critical-needs projects. The special critical-needs projects shall be planned and designed by the commission incorporating the cooperative assistance of the local district(s) involved and with the technical assistance available to the district(s).

AUTHORITY: sections 278.070, 278.080, and 278.110, RSMo (1986).* Original rule filed Aug. 12, 1980, effective Jan. 1, 1981. *Original authority: 278.070, RSMo (1943), amended 1961, 1969, 1980; 278.080, RSMo (1943), amended 1961, 1980, 1986; and 278.110, RSMo (1943), amended 1961, 1980.